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Friday, 12 January 2007

Fri. Jan. 12th/07: Weekend Previews

Just one game in the CIS last night, as UCFV upset TWU at home in Abbotsford 87-80, coming from behind on the road to win their 4th league game of the season as 4th year Joel Haviland's 3 with about 13 minutes remaining game them the lead for good. The Spartans welcomed back star guard Brian Banman and he had 20 points to lead the Spartans. Trinity Western (7-8) 80 at UCFV (4-11) 87 Story and box score from UCFV site and TWU site story **NOTE: This score was originally reversed and reported in error - many thanks to the blog reader who notified us

CIS WEEKEND PREVIEWA number of huge matchups across the country this weekend, especially in Canada West as both #4 UBC and #6 UVic visit #8 Brandon Bobcats in Manitoba. These are Brandon's first games this season against Top 10 opponents and will go a long way in establishing how close the Cats under second-year Head Coach Barnaby Craddock are to genuinely competing for one of two Canada West spots at the CIS Nationals. Out east in the Atlantic conference, another Top 10 matchup goes in Antigonish as #2 St.FX tries to avenge their only league loss of the season against #9 Cape Breton in a game available both on X web cast and on Eastlink on Saturday night at 7 PM eastern. In the OUA East, the York Lions will have a much better idea of where they stand after this weekend as they host #1 Carleton on Friday and #5 Ottawa on Saturday. The most appealing matchup in the OUA West goes Saturday night at 8 PM as #7 Windsor visits arch-rival Western at Alumni Hall in London.

FRIDAY NIGHT'S SCHEDULECanada West Preview:#8 Brandon (10-2) vs. #4 UBC (13-0) and #6 UVic (12-1) Although the Bobcats have a five game lead in Canada West Great Plains and have essentially sealed up first place, the Cats play their first games against Top 10 competition this weekend. Here is a preview from Brandon web site Brandon weekend preview Also, a Vikes preview story from Victoria Times-Colonist Vikes Fly East for Key Canada West Games

Alberta (8-4) hosts Winnipeg (5-7) and Manitoba (4-8) with a view to solidify their hold on first place in Canada West Mountain division. Winnipeg's Erfan Nasajpour was very close to a triple double in the win last Saturday against Manitoba; Matt Opalko, who missed time due to injury, came back to score 16 points including 4 3’s against the Bisons. Alberta weekend preview

Saskatchewan (7-5) hosts Manitoba (4-8) Friday and Winnipeg (5-7) Saturday. Huskiehoops.com provides a preview as well as comprehensive game notes for both contests. Saskatchewan is just one game behind Alberta in the race for first place in Canada West Mountain. Huskiehoops.com Saskatchewan weekend preview

Calgary (4-8) visits Lethbridge (4-8) for a pair of back-to-back games in the battle for third place in Canada West Mountain as the Horns and Dinos are tied for the final playoff position in the Mountain Division with ten games remaining. The two teams split a weekend series in Calgary before Christmas with the Dinos winning the first night, 91-85 and the Horns winning the next night in overtime, 78-70. Last weekend, the Horns opened the second half of the conference schedule with a weekend split on the road versus the U of S Huskies, while the Dinos earned the same at home in a weekend set with the division leading University of Alberta Golden Bears. Tip off for both Friday and Saturday night is scheduled for 10:15 pm eastern.

After last night's upset loss by Trinity Western at home to UCFV, Simon Fraser (7-7) can grab third place in the Canada West Pacific division with a pair of wins on the road this weekend as they travel to face Thompson Rivers (0-14) and UCFV (4-11). Simon Fraser preview Fraser Valley weekend preview here

AUS The AUS schedule gets interesting this weekend as Cape Breton and X renew their growing rivalry. Acadia and St. Mary's travel to both UNB and UPEI for a pair of games this weekend with the Acadia/UNB and St.Mary's/UPEI matchups on Friday being 4 pointers. Dalhousie and Memorial each look to establish a hold on second place in the Baldwin as they meet twice in St. John's. With many 4 point games in the conference designed to make inter-division games even more meaningful, the number of points in the standings are more important than team records. The number of points earned thus far by Nelson division leaders Cape Breton, St. FX and Acadia indicate how dominant their conference has been in inter-divisional games against Baldwin teams. Here are up to date standings:

AUS NOTES UPEI Panthers hope to have steady 5th year forward Peter Stay, who missed last weekend's games, back in the lineup this weekend as they host St. Mary's on Friday and Acadia on Saturday. Awale Dualeh had the best game of his career in the green and white, scoring 10 to go with 6 rebounds in limited action.

QSSF Update: A light slate of games in Quebec this weekend as only McGill plays twice, hosting Bishop's Saturday night and Laval Saturday night. The league-leading Concordia Stingers go cross-town in Montreal to face UQAM, which came up with their first league victory of the season last weekend at home against Bishop's. All 3 games take place in Montreal and for whatever reason the schedule has both games on Friday taking place in the same city, making it difficult for fans to maximize their ability to watch all teams.

QSSF Notes:Bishop's: Gaiters men's basketball coach Eddie Pomykala is proud to announce the upcoming donation of a $500 cheque to the Leucan Estrie organization on behalf of his team. The charitable donation represents the earnings made by the Athletic Department during the 2006 Bishop's Converse Invitational Tournament, which was held last December 30th and 31st at Bishop's Mitchell Gymnasium. Pomykala will present the cheque to Miss Suzelle Lacroix, the Leucan Estrie coordinator, before Bishop's next home game, Friday, January 19th against the UQAM Citadins. Leucan Estrie was instrumental in helping the family of Michael Fontaine, a Mansonville native who served as the Gaiters manager, passed away in February of 2005 of cancer. He was 20 years old... Junior Nicolas, a six-foot one third year guard who finished last season ranked 8th in the Quebec conference with 11.2 points per game, played his first game of the season on the weekend against UQTR and finished the game with 5 points in 21 minutes. While Nicolas has returned to the line-up, head coach Eddie Pomykala has also confirmed the departure of third-year point guard Kevin Watson. Watson left the team for personal reasons in mid-December and will not be returning to the team this winter. Laval: The Rouge et Or are slowly getting healthy again in what has been an injury-plagued season as the only player questionable for their game at McGill on Saturday is 3rd year forward Pierre-Olivier Horth. 6'7" All-Canadian candidate J.P. Morin, averaging a double/double at 18.8 ppg/14.2 rpg is slowly recovering from a severe wrist injury. Morin, who continues to play with a small cast on his wrist, has had a double-double in each of Laval's five league games thus far. UQAM: Star 6'2" guard Samuel Johnson has been nursing a back injury and it is not known if he will be available this weekend. The Citadins had their first league victory of the season last weekend led by Mario Joseph, Marc-Olivier Beauchamp and Kevin Boucher. Concordia hopes to welcome back Damain Buckley into the lineup this weekend. Click here for a Stingers recap article from the Concordian weekly student newspaper.

OUA East Friday Night Preview The feature game of the night has #1 Carleton (10-0) visiting York Lions (7-3) in Toronto. The last meeting between these 2 teams was in last season's OUA East final at the Raven's Nest when the Lions ended Carleton's reign as OUA East champions with a comfortable victory - remember the Ravens were without star 6'7" forward Aaron Doornekamp for that game. The Lions welcomed back 6'3" guard Tut Ruach last weekend and are now at full strength going into tonight's big matchup at Tait McKenzie Building in North York. #5 Ottawa Gee-Gees (9-1) visit Laurentian (3-7) in Sudbury and Ben Avery Gymnasium has rarely been friendly to Ottawa as the Gee-Gees have only 3 wins in the past 20 seasons there dating back to the mid 1980's. Ottawa had a tough time defending big guys last weekend and were fortunate to win a pair of home games while Laurentian played an improved Queen's team very team on the road in Kingston last weekend. In other games, Toronto Varsity Blues (4-6) host RMC (1-9) while Queen's (7-3) visits Ryerson (3-7) with both games in downtown Toronto.

Finally from the CIS, one game in the OUA West as winless Lakehead visits McMaster (4-5) for the first of two games this weekend at Burridge Gymnasium in Hamilton. The Marauders are locked and loaded for a strong finish, welcoming back a couple of players after Christmas in Toms Lokmanis and Jermaine DeCosta and need a pair of victories this weekend to get back over .500 and push for one of two byes in the OUA West first round playoffs.

NORM CLARKE'S SON IS EMERGING AS POSSIBLY THE NEXT GREAT PLAYER FROM TORONTO For those of you who recall the great Oakwood teams of the late 70's and early 80's, guard Norm Clarke, who captained St. Bonaventure and then played for Canada's National team, was an integral part of this dynasty. Now his son Julian, only 14 years old and in Grade 9, looks to continue his family's basketball legacy. Toronto Sun's Frank Zicarelli has a nice article on Julian's latest performance here

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I enjoy Canadian University basketball and with this blog hope to contribute to sharing as much as information about CIS basketball as possible. Please share your comments and suggestions, positive or otherwise, by emailing marek.wacyk@sympatico.ca I also advise others on their financial well-being with RBC Dominion Securities as an Investment Advisor www.markwacyk.com